High Court orders justice minister to convene Judicial Selection Committee |
In a setback for Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that he is obligated to convene the Judicial Selection Committee as soon as possible in order to appoint judges to district courts, something he has refused to do since January 2025.
The court ruled that Levin’s demand that there must be full consensus on the committee to make appointments undermined the stipulations of the judicial appointments law, which allows for appointments by majority.
The court also upbraided Levin for arguing recently that there is no longer enough time to select judges before the Knesset is dissolved — when judicial appointments become more problematic — pointing out that the justice minister himself caused the problem since he refused to convene the committee for the last 16 months.
Levin’s refusal to make appointments led to an acute lack of judges on numerous magistrate and district courts around the country, with some district courts particularly badly affected, harming the courts’ ability to advance the legal process in key cases, including in matters affecting public safety.
The court stated specifically in its ruling that priority should be given to the Beersheba and Haifa district courts, which are short five judges and three judges, respectively.
It also ordered Levin to publish a list of candidates for the judicial vacancies in the state gazette by June 8, in order to allow for the requisite 45 days’ deliberation on those candidates before a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee can be held, something the court said should happen “as soon as possible.”
The ruling was issued by Justices Ofer Grosskopf, Alex Stein, and Gila Canfy-Steinitz.
Levin called the ruling “an apparently illegal decision,” and accused the judges of creating a constitutional crisis, “which is entirely their responsibility,” seeming to indicate that he will not abide by the ruling.
Because Levin, who, as justice minister, heads the Judicial Selection Committee, has refused to convene the panel and make appointments since January 2025, there are currently 51 vacancies on the country’s various magistrate and district courts, a........